The Eagle has landed!

Last night Steve Schwarz and I went for an overnight camping trip on the Ingraham Trail. Our original plan was to head out on Great Slave Lake to an island on Wool Bay and overnight there. The wind had other ideas. So, as I said we headed out the Ingraham Trail. Our Plan B was to take the travel trailer out to a location near some water and wait for the Aurora to arrive. It wasn’t a bad Plan B, we had 30 feet of living space, lights, a fridge, a stove, a furnace and of course beds. The boating plan had, a tent and sleeping bags. I actually would have really enjoyed the originally trip but, with 30 km/h winds the idea of going 35 or 40 km on Great Slave in a freighter canoe probably wasn’t a good one. We arrived at a place we liked and set-up for the night. The Aurora came early and stayed past our willingness to stay awake. It was a great light show. This post however will skip over the Aurora images I captured and will focus on what happened this morning. Before we headed back to Yellowknife we wanted to capture some landscapes and other images from the area where we spent the night. We hiked around the rocky hills near Tibbett Lake and captured a few great images. I wandered over one rocky area and a young eagle flew up and past me. Steve, who was better prepared for such an encounter, noticed it first and watched it as it journeyed past. The eagle landed on a tree a couple hundred feet away. Steve had his Leica 400mm lens mounted and was getting a few shots, I was there taking landscapes and had a 17-50mm lens. Unlike Steve, who was carrying two cameras with two different lenses, I had only one and my other camera with the long lens was still in the truck. I decided to hike towards our eagle friend just to see how cooperative he/she might be. Amazingly, the eagle let me get to around 30 or 40 feet, close enough that I was actually able to get a couple of shots with my short lens. As I continued closer the eagle finally flew away but, he/she circled and landed just a 100 feet or so from the tree it had just left. Again, I found my way closer as Steve continued to shoot from a distance. The eagle seemed just as fascinated by me as I was by it. Again, I got very close. When the eagle flew off for a second time, it went a little farther from us. We headed in its direction and I made a short detour to get my longer lens. I continued to try to get close and Steve continued to focus from a little farther away. The eagle continued watching me approach and again allowed me to get pretty close. Then it flew off once more. I knew the direction the eagle flew but didn’t see where it finally stopped. I called to Steve to see if he could still see the big bird and he told me to keep moving straight ahead. I continued but still couldn’t find it, all the while conversing with Steve (quite loudly as we were quite a distance apart). At one point I stopped and explained I couldn’t see the eagle as Steve shouts that he/she was in a tree almost directly above me, only 20 or so feet away. Still I was blind, lol. With that, the beautiful creature flew off again. I continued to move in its direction but, this time I wouldn’t be able to get that close. I took a few more images before the eagle finally flew directly toward Steve and then headed off, well past our view. It was awesome. Never before have I seen an eagle interact with a person like this. I was like a kid in a candy store. By now we had spent more time shooting than I expected and it was time to hook-up the trailer and start heading home. It was an amazing way to spend the morning. Steve, thanks for agreeing to come out, it was a great photography trip. For everyone one else visiting the blog, thanks for doing so. Below are some eagle images, the first 4 taken with my little 17-50mm and final 2 with my 120-400mm. Enjoys, thanks again and as always Happy Shooting.